


Close Quarters

by froggydarren



Category: Welcome to PHU Series - Tris Lawrence
Genre: Alaric overthinks all the things, M/M, Multi, Sleeping Together, Triad - Freeform, what happens on the tour bus...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9049141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/froggydarren
Summary: When Phoenix Rising had a mini tour scheduled during a school break, Rory asked Alaric to tag along. It seemed like a good idea at first, but only until Ric realised that sleeping arrangements were going to be complicated.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tryslora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryslora/gifts).



> Hey Tris, so I cleaned this up and figured today was a good day to post :D Happy holidays, dear, and thank you again for allowing me into your sandbox and letting me go crazy with these characters. <3 
> 
> Prequel to [more than enough](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8717452). Aka "how did Thalory come to be?" ;)

“C’mon,” Rory mumbles, already half under the covers. 

Alaric hesitates. They’ve done this before, the two of them, when he was away from Drea and Corbin, when he needed the closeness that he used to get from Clan. Rory makes for a good companion that way, lying on top of Ric, providing the tactile reassurance necessary. But it’s not their dorm room now, it’s not the familiar place where he allows himself to  _ need _ and to admit what he sees as weakness. 

“Ric,” Rory says quietly, more alert than he was a moment ago. 

When Alaric looks at him, Rory is looking up, propped on one arm, eyes narrowed like he’s trying to focus on what Alaric isn’t saying. It won’t work, Alaric knows that, but he still cringes a tiny bit, afraid that Rory will see right through him. 

“Yeah okay,” he says instead of all the other thoughts that are swirling through his mind. “Okay, move,” he adds when he’s by the bed, slipping out of his shoes. 

It’s still slightly disconcerting to be here, and Alaric wonders how he let Rory talk him into joining the band on the small tour they fit into the short break between semesters. He likes the music, now that he got to experience it properly, live. But to be on the bus with them is… well, he’s been around for almost a week, and he’s still not sure if he’ll ever lose the urge to run away. 

“Stop thinking, you’re loud,” Rory mutters when they arrange themselves on the bed in the familiar way they do when they’re in their dorm room. 

He’s on top, covering Alaric’s body, and it’s already making it easier to breathe. Alaric isn’t going to say it out loud, but he misses Clan, misses the way they’re tactile. There are people now in his social circle who are okay with casual brushes of hands, touches that are comforting and reassuring. Rory is different though. Not in a bad way, he’s still one of the people who don’t shy away from physical closeness, especially since he realised that Alaric craves it. But it’s not the familial touch that Drea has, nor the friendly pats on the shoulder Ric gets from Mac and Dax. It isn’t the overt come-on that he’s experienced from Nate or even Chris either, the kind that has a specific purpose to it, more subtle from Chris than from Nate. 

Rory’s body weight anchors him in ways that no one else and nothing else seems to. It doesn’t take him apart the way Thorne’s touch does, though that’s something that Alaric also wants sometimes. 

But where Thorne splinters him until he can’t think anymore, until his focus is centered on where hands skim his skin and he’s falling into pieces in the best of ways, Rory holds him together. The contrast is confusing as much as it absolutely makes sense, and Alaric can’t help but marvel at how it’s those two who, together, give him everything he needs. 

He wonders if this is what a solid relationship feels like when it’s just the one person doing both. Wonders if it’s why he never looked for it, never thought one guy would be able to do it all. 

“Seriously, your thoughts are  _ loud _ ,” Rory grouses and shifts, half off of Alaric’s body now. “It’s a long drive, get some sleep.” 

Alaric twists until his nose is on Rory’s collarbone, and he breathes in the familiar scent, lets it settle his mind. 

The last thought he has before drifting off into an uneasy sleep is that having Rory there reminds him of Corbin, but with none of the repeated sting of rejection. 

\---

He wakes up to the feeling of being ridiculously warm, more than he’s used to these days. It’s odd, because with Clan warmth of bodies around his own is normal, and it’s more unusual to feel cold and be alone. Since he’s been living in the dorms though, Alaric has been getting used to being by himself, with only the occasional night when Rory shared the bed with him. 

When he’s with Thorne, he usually doesn’t sleep over. It has crossed his mind more than a few times, when he’s been a little too tired to feel like walking back to his room. But despite Thorne’s offer back at the beginning, Alaric didn’t really take him up on it. Once or maybe twice they fell asleep after sex, but even then he woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t go back to sleep. 

Now, he can’t turn around to confirm that it’s Thorne in the bed with them, because Rory is still half on top of his body. The warmth and the hand on his waist is familiar though, and he recognises the heartbeat easily. 

“Go back to sleep,” he hears Rory mutter when he tries to move so he can check who’s behind him. 

“Mhm, that,” comes from around Alaric’s neck, accompanied by a breath that sends shivers down his spine.

_ Definitely Thorne then _ , he thinks. 

“Sleep. Talk in the morning,” Rory adds, words muffled against the pillow his face is pressed into. 

It’s the warmth that puts Alaric to sleep, in the end. He can’t move, but he doesn’t mind because it steadies him and helps him ignore the rumbling of the bus’s engine. He has two comforting heartbeats surrounding him, and his eyes close easily then, the desire to run subdued. 

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com) || [Welcome to PHU blog](http://welcometophu.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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